With the Sohma's
by Dark's Wings
Summary: Mira is an extremely messed up high school student. And it's all the Sohma's fault. So what happens when she transfers back to her old school and is noticed by it's Prince, Yuki Sohma? Befriended by him even? You'll have to read to see.


I walked down the hallway, in the middle of a group of chattering girls. Not that I knew who they were, or they knew me, really. I knew vaguely that some of them were in my class but I had no idea which ones. To them I was just something interesting to look at, an oddity, the new girl. Transferring in the middle of the year had done it's work making me stand out, and I guess my attitude didn't help all that much, the way I was constantly driving everyone away and being so hostile.

Suddenly the girl's chattering and giggling got louder, I looked up to see what had gotten them so excited.

A boy was walking down the hall towards us. The girl's gasped and sighed and their eyes followed him like hawks eye their prey. He was cute, I had to admit, and handsome. And he emitted an air of charm as he walked, smiling at the girls but not conversing. He didn't really seem that special though. I looked away.

"Oh," one of the girls gasped from beside me. "Isn't he amazing? That's Yuki Sohma! He's student council president!"

"Oh, he's such a Prince." the other girl sighed.

I nearly tripped as I heard his name. Sohma. Well, I knew some students in the school were named Sohma, and what with us being so close to the Sohma estate I guess there really wasn't any avoiding them. I made myself focus on the floor in front of me and kept walking, ignoring the twitters from the girls on either side.

"Miss Hihara."

A light male voice made me look up again. The Sohma boy was right in front of me, his kind smile aimed at me. I scowled. "What?"

He blinked, taken aback for a moment, then regained his composure. "I just wanted to welcome you to the school. It's rare that we get transfer students in the middle of the year, and as student council president I just wanted to make sure you were fitting in."

I snorted. 'Fitting in'. What a dumb term to use, especially for a Sohma, even if he didn't know about the curse, as I assumed was the case. "I'm fine. I don't need you, or anyone else babying me."

I glared at him as the girls gasped. The Sohma boy frowned. "I see... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem like I was babying you. I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding-"

"Yeah, well just leave me alone." I snapped, to the utter shock of the girls. Obviously they thought he was the coolest thing since sliced bread and apparently he thought he was too. Well it was time someone took him down a notch or two. "I don't care who you are, or what you're trying to do. I can look out for myself, and I don't need anyone poking their nose in where it doesn't belong. Just stay away from me, 'Prince'." I said, using the nickname some of the other girls had been calling him.

The Sohma boy wasn't smiling anymore, but he wasn't glaring outright. His expression seemed more thoughtful then anything as he nodded. "I'm sorry for bothering you. I'm sure you can look after yourself just fine. Excuse me."

As he walked away I breathed a sigh of relief. The girls instantly fell on me, asking how I could treat Yuki that way, who I thought I was and other such nonsense. I waved them all off. "Who he is doesn't make any difference to me." I told them, adding glares for some of the more vocal ones. "If he's smart he'll take a hint and leave me alone. Now, move, I've got to get to soccer practice."

I planned never to speak to the Sohma boy again. My plans were dashed however, as I met him again that very day.

It was after school had ended. Everyone was going home. I stayed behind, kicking soccer balls into the net again and again. I had just finished talking with my teacher. My grades were failing, badly. My Dad had told me that if my grades continued falling, he'd have to do something drastic. Usually when he said this he upped the dosage on whatever drugs he was trying to feed me. I never took the drugs of course, they always managed to find their way into the toilet or down the sink, but I always had to remember to act listless and unfocused around my Dad. And more drugs would just make the deception all the harder. I might even have to take some of the dratted things just to keep him from getting suspicious.

I viciously kicked another ball, sending it flying into the post with a bang. My grades were dropping. I had maybe the rest of this month to pick them up or my Dad would start noticing. I had little to no hope of being able to, plus, my soccer team had a huge game coming up next week that I had to be in top shape for or I was off the team.

I sank to the grass and put my head in my hands, allowing myself to wallow in self pity for a few moments.

"Are you alright Miss Hihara?"

I jumped and looked around. It was the Sohma boy again. He had walked out to the middle of the field and was holding out his hand to help me to my feet.

I glared at the hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. Go away."

The Sohma frowned. "Are you sure? You looked a little... depressed."

"Yeah, so what if I am?" I demanded, wiping at my traitor eyes which had stared to water. "My grades are failing, my Dad hates me, I'm about to be kicked off the soccer team, about the only thing I actually _like_ doing in this stupid school, I think I have a bit of a right to be depressed!"

"But surely it can't be that bad." I glared as the Sohma boy sat down in the grass next to me. "Your grades can't be that bad, you're smart. Kimi saw you in class and she said you're one of the best in math. And you've only just transferred, you can't be kicked off the team yet. Don't they have to let you try at least?"

I scoffed. "So you're going to believe what that airhead Kimi says? And no, the team doesn't have to give me a chance, this _is_ my chance. If I don't make good on this next game the team has no use for me. No one has any use for me and I'm sick of it!" I yelled, throwing a soccer ball at the net as hard as I could.

The boy watched me with a quiet, thoughtful expression on his face.

I scowled and dropped my head into my hands. "Look, just forget it OK? It's not your problem. Just pretend you didn't hear anything alright?"

We sat in silence for a few moments as I fumed over how I could be so dumb as to blurt out all my problems to a stranger, a Sohma at that. I must be even more pathetic then I'd realized.

Finally, just when I was about to go stomping off, the Sohma boy broke the silence. "I'll tell you what." he said, balancing a soccer ball on his finger. "I'm pretty good with history and social studies, and I'm not bad in science. I'll tutor you. In exchange you can give me some help with the math assignments. That will at least help you get your grades back up a little. What do you say?"

I stared at him suspiciously. I couldn't see what he would get out of this, I was OK in math but I was by no means the best, and it bothered me that I couldn't find his motivation. Why was he offering to help me? Out of pity? Well, pity or not I was in no position to refuse, not that he had to know that.

"Why are you doing this?" I demanded, determined to know before I agreed to anything. "Why should you bother? And if you think I'm going to do you favors or whatever just because you offered to help me you can just forget it!"

"It's just a simple trade." he said, giving the ball a spin, not meeting my suspicious gaze. "You help me, I help you. That's all. Unless of course, you don't want my help...?" he let the end of the sentence trail off and hang in the air between us, a reminder of what would happen if I tried to go it on my own.

"No." I said sullenly, looking down at the grass under my hand. "I do need help. There's no way I can fix this on my own."

The boy smiled and caught the ball, tossing it to me in the same smooth movement. "Here then. You'd better keep practicing for your game. Are you free tomorrow? After school?"

"Yeah." I muttered, still unhappy with this arrangement.

"Good. We can start then. See you."

I kept my eyes on the grass as the Sohma boy's footsteps faded away. I wasn't happy about this, but at least he would help me get my grades up. And really, what other choice did I have?

I stood, and without even looking, kicked the ball straight into the center of the goal. Then again, if he could help me with my grades, perhaps that would keep my dad off my back. And if I had more time to practice, maybe I could get on the team, and I wouldn't have to give up soccer. Maybe this 'partnership' wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.


End file.
